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| Kathmandu, Monday April 07, 2003 Chaitra 24, 2059. |
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Pant powers Tri-Chandra to
title triumph
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 6 : A superb performance with
the ball by Rajiv Pant led Tri-Chandra (TC) Multiple Campus to the title triumph in the
second Vice-Chancellor Running Shield Cricket tournament with a five-wicket victory over
Nepal Commerce Campus (NCC) on Sunday.
In the final played at Tribhuvan University
cricket ground, NCC were bowled out for 160 in 36.2 overs after opting to bat first. TC,
in reply, gathered the required 161 runs for the loss of five wickets in 36.5 overs.
NCC, after an early loss of Kimon Ojha at 20,
recovered well in the match through Subrat Pandey and Monish Shrestha, adding valued 80
runs for the second wicket. Pandey made 26 and Shrestha played steady knock of 46 runs.
But just as the two seemed threatening, Pant devastated the NCC innings as he finished
with 5-31 off eight overs. He was declared man of the match for the feat.
He clean bowled Pandey to leave NCC at 100-2 and
removed Shrestha with the addition of just one run. Sandip Shrestha, who came in after the
loss of Pandey, rarely found a respite against some tidy bowling and quickly became Pant’s
third victim after making just four runs.
After losing Raju Basnet cheaply for five, NCC
put a brief resistance with Maheshwor Shrestha and Rakesh Singh putting on 35 runs for the
sixth wicket.
However, the partnership did not last too long
as Pant returned back to remove Singh (23) making 151-5. Ritesh Baral also bowled with
line and length from the other end to take two quick wickets of Anup Basnet (1) and
Maheshwor Shrestha (16) to reduce NCC to 153-7.
Pant completed his five-wicket haul when he
forced Kalyan Rajkarnikar (1) to hole a catch to the wicketkeeper and NCC innings came to
the close shortly. Monir Shrestha, Sudip and Purushottam Bista all bagged a wicket each.
Chasing 161 for the victory, TC made a nervous
start and were in a spot of bother when NCC bowler Subrat Pandey made early inroads to
leave them at 18-2. Opener Bimal Bhattarai (1) and Monir Shrestha (5) both found Pandey
too hot to handle and were comprehensively bowled.
But opener Purushottam Bista and Ritesh Baral
batted superbly, each bringing up a half century, and shared 98 runs for the third wicket
to stave off the danger. Baral fell to Kalyan Rai immediately after reaching 50 (4x4, 6x1)
but Bista stood as firm as a rock and remained not out at 69 (4x6) to see TC through.
Kalyan Rai matched the wickets tally of the
fellow NCC bowler Pandey as he also claimed the wicket of Rajiv Pant (2). Monish Shrestha
was another successful bowler with one wicket.
At a function held after the final, TU
Vice-Chancellor Dr. Govinda Prasad Sharma gave away the running shield, medals,
certificates and Rs. 10,000 in cash prize to the winning team. NCC, meanwhile received the
runners-up trophy, medals, certificates and cash prize of Rs. 5,000 from the president of
Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), Jai Kumar Nath Shah.
Paresh Lohani of Shankar Dev Campus and Tariq
Shah of Saraswoti Campus were adjudged the best batsman and best bowler in the tournament
respectively while Purushottam Bista was declared the man of the tournament. |
